The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour

I have a minor problem with The New Pornographers, which is that I really do find them to be the sum of their parts; I always end up wanting to listen to Daniel Bejar or A.C. Newman's solo work, to get a more prolonged burst of each of their particular styles of pop genius. Perhaps the only really different thing you get with the New Pornos is Neko Case doing pop, which in the past has worked out great and is a nice change for those of us her already love her country work. So yes, I have enjoyed their old lps, but not loved them, because although you could say the members put together present a far more power-pop, fun style than you get in their solo work, it's not as if they weren't poppy artists anyway, and it's not as if there aren't better power-pop bands out there (hello Weakerthans and Sloan!).

But this is me being an indie miffler really, because in the end i'll always prefer listening to these clever people do their business than I will 90% of other bands doing vaguely the same thing but with much crappier songwriting skills. I just can't resist anything Daniel Bejar (that's Destroyer to you) does. Maybe it's the voice (he's basically another David Tibet/Luke Haines isn't he?) which is just too cool for school, but its also the liquid word-splurging style in which he spits it all out. The new New Pornos album, their fourth, is Challengers, which is out on Domino right now and is more of the same catchy stuff you've got from em before. Here's a couple of songs (the second one being a bit rarer, see how I treat you?). Enjoy!

The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour
The New Pornographers - Silent Systems